Unit handling single load hoisting system



J. E. FIQTRGUSON ETAL 3,095,988

UNIT HANDLING SINGLE LOAD HOISTING SYSTEM 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 2, 1963Filed Oct. 3. 1960 INVENTORS JOHN E. FERGUSON DW/GHT R/CHARDS ATTORNEYJuly 2, 1963 J. FERGUSON ETAL 3,095,938

UNIT HANDLING SINGLE LOAD HOISTING SYSTEM '7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct.5. 1960 INVENTORS JOHN E. FERGUSON DWIGHT RICHARDS ATTORNEY y 1963 J. E.FERGUSON ETAL 3,095,988

UNIT HANDLING SINGLE LOAD HOISTING SYSTEM 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 5.1960 INVENTORS M5 0 R m mm FR NH 6 MM JD ATTORNEY July 2, 1963 J. E.FERGUSON ETAL 3,095,988

UNIT HANDLING SINGLE LOAD HOISTING SYSTEM '7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Oct.5. 1960 INVENTORS JOHN E. FERGUSON DWIGHT RICHARDS A TTORNE Y July 2,1963 .1. E. FERGUSON ETAL 3,095,983

UNIT HANDLING SINGLE LOAD HOISTING SYSTEM 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 31960 INVENTORS JOHN E FERGUSON DW/GHT R/CHA R05 ATTORNEY July 2, 1963 J.E. FERGUSON ETAL 3,095,938

uurr HANDLING SINGLE LOAD HOISTING SYSTEM 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Oct. 5.1960 INVENTORS JOHN E. FERGUSON DW/GHT R/CHARDS ATTORNEY July 2, 1963 J.E. FERGUSON ETAL 3,

UNIT HANDLING swam LOAD uozs'rmc SYSTEM Filed Oct. 3. 1960 '7Sheets-Sheet 7 r- INVENTORS JOHN E. FERGUSON (EL 33 DWIGHT R/CHARDS ATTOR/VE Y United states 3,095,938 Patented July 2, 1963 3,095,988 UNITHANDLING SINGLE LGAD HGISTIN'G SYSTEM John E. Ferguson, Beaverton, andDwight Richards, Portiand, Greg, assignors to Guy F. Atkinson Company,South San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of Nevada Filed Get. 3, 1960,Ser. No. 60,456? 8 Claims. (Cl. 214-38) This invention relates to a loadhoisting system wherein loaded truck bodies are removed from theirtrucks, conveyed to a distant dumping station and returned empty forreplacement on other trucks and reloading in continuous cycles ofoperation.

The present system is of particular advantage in removing ore and wastefrom an open pit mine in mountainous country where conventionaltransportation facilities, such as railroads, cannot be brought close tothe mine, but the invention is not limited to mining operations.

"In an open pit mine, for example, vast quantities of ore and wastematerial must be removed. The waste material must be conveyed to a dumpfor disposal and the ore must be carried to a processing plant, such asa smelter, usually .at a great distance. In most cases, the ore iscarried out of the mining region by railroad so there exists the problemof getting the ore from the mine to the nearest railroad facility in themost expeditious manner. Such facility may be a thousand feet above orbelow the level of the mine and several thousand feet distant inhorizontal measurement.

Heretofore, conventionm skip hoists have been used for this purpose.This necessitates numerous separate operations such as trucking the oreto a loading station, dumping the ore in a storage bin, loading skipbuckets from the storage bin, unloading the skip buckets at the end ofthe line in a second storage bin and then loading railroad gondola carsor the like from the second storage bin. Installing, maintaining andoperating such equipment is an expensive undertaking because of thegreat amount of equipment required and the repeated rehandling of thematerial. Both equipment and manpower requirements are excessive andcostly.

The general object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide animproved hoisting system for transporting material more quickly,efiiciently and at a lower cost than conventional hoisting systems.

Other objects are to provide an improved hoisting system which wouldeliminate such conventional equipment as storage bins, skipway skips andother skipway components which require both excessive maintenance andexcessive manpower to operate, to provide a hoist system which isinherently simpler, more economical, more reliable and safer thanconventional hoist systems, to provide a hoist system which limits thehandling of the ore to the loading of the trucks in the mine by theexcavating shovel, to provide a system in which the material is neverrehandled after the trucks are loaded until the truck bodies are dumpedinto the final transportation receptacle and to provide a system of thetype described which may be operated by one man in addition to thenecessary truck drivers.

The present hoisting system comprises a pair of inciined carriage tracksfor carriages capable of conveying loaded truck bodies. At one end ofthe carriage tracks are loading stations having automatic equipment forremoving a loaded truck body and transferring it to a waiting carriageand having other automatic equipment for placing an empty body on thetruck. The truck driver himself controls this equipment and then, havingexchanged a loaded body for an empty body, proceeds immediately back tothe mine for another load. During this time, the loaded truck bodytravels on a carriage to a dumping station Where the loaded body isremoved from the carriage .and transferred to a dumping mechanism whichdumps the load into an available facility. Such facility may be, forexample, a railroad gondola car, an ore crusher, or a belt conveyor.Alternatively, instead of being dumped at the terminal station, theloaded body may be transferred to another truck chassis for continuedtrucking. After dumping, the empty truck body is returned to the loadingstation on the carriage to take the place of a loaded body on anothertruck.

Thus, the cycle of transfer, transportation, dumping and return repeatscontinuously for .a succession of trucks to maintain a substantiallysteady flow of material from the mine to a terminal facility withoutre-handling of the material from the time it is shovel loaded into thetruck until the truck body is dumped at a remote point. By using onecarriage on each of the two tracks, the carriages counterbalance eachother and separate out of phase with each other so that one or the otheris always available at short intervals to receive a new load at one ofthe loading stations.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages will become apparent andthe invention will be better understood from the following detaileddescription of the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated onthe accompanying drawings. Various changes may be made, however, in theconstruction and arrangement of parts and certain features may be usedwithout others. All such modifications Within the scope of the appendedclaims are included in the invention.

*In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a general perspective view of the present hoisting system,showing the loading stations at the lower ends of the carriage tracks,the dump stations and hoist house at the upper ends of the carriagetracks and one typical intermediate pair of support towers for thecarriage tracks with the rest of the carriage tracks broken away;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view with parts broken away of one of theloading stations showing a loaded truck approaching the station and ahoist carriage just arrived in the station with an empty truck body;

FIGURE 3 is a similar perspective view showing the empty body removedfrom the carriage and the loaded body in the process of being removedfrom the truck;

FIGURE 4 is a similar view showing the empty body being placed on thetruck while the loaded body is carried away by the carriage;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective View, with parts broken away, of one of thedump stations, showing an empty truck body waiting for placement on thecarriage while the loaded truck body from FIGURE 4 is being transferredfrom the carriage to a dumping mechanism;

FIGURE 6 is a similar view showing the empty body being deposited on thecarriage .and showing the loaded body on the dumping mechanism;

FIGURE 7 is a similar view showing the loaded body being dumped into awaiting gondola car while the empty body returns on the carriage to theloading station;

FIGURE 8 is a similar view showing the body which has just been dumpedabout to be removed from the dumping mechanism and lifted to waitingposition in the dumping station;

FIGURE 9 is a vertical sectional view through one of the dumpingstations, including a hoist carriage in the station in a phase ofoperation intermediate between the events of FIGURES 5 and 6;

FIGURE 10 is a side elevation view with parts broken away, showing atruck in one of the loading stations;

FIGURE 11 is a front elevation view of the truck in FIGURE 10;

FIGURE 12 is a rear elevation view of the truck in FIGURE FIGURE 13 isan enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing a body latching device onthe truck; and

FIGURE 14 is a fragmentary sectional view showing how the truck bodyisconstructed for lifting by grapple arms in the stations and carriageReferring first to the general View in FIGURE 1, the track T extends upan incline from loading station L to dump station D The track T isparallel, extending up the incline from loading station L to dumpstation D In a typical case, this system is installed on a mountain sidewith the dumping stations a thousand feet, more or less, higher than theloading stations and severalthousand feet distant in a horizontaldirection. The loading stations are accessible to the mine (not shown)by trucks 10 having removable and interchangeable dump bodies B. Thedumping stations in the present example are erected over a railroadtrack 11 carrying gondola cars or the like 12 to transport the ore to asmelter.

In the operation of the system, the loaded truck bodies B are removedfrom the trucks in loading stations L and L and carried up the inclineto the dumping stations by two carriages C and C which also return theempty bodies back to the loading stations. The carriages are pulled upand lowered by pairs of cables 13 leading into a hoist house 14 beyondthe dumping stations. The two cables 13 for one carriage are overwoundon a pair of cable drums and the two cables 13 for the other carriageare 'underwound on a pair of cable drums, all on a common shaft drivenby a suitable prime mover such as an electric motor. Thus, the carriagesalways move in opposite directions up and down the incline andcounterbalance each other except for the weight of the live load movingup on one of the carriages. In FIGURE 1, the carriage C is at the bottomof the incline in loading station L and the carriage C is at the top ofthe incline in dumping station D At intervals along the incline thecarriage tracks T and T are supported on towers 15, one pair of typicaltowers being shown, and suitable means, such as sheaves 16, are alsoprovided to support the cables 13 at intervals in order to preventobjectionable sag or whip.

The special construction of the truck bodies to facilitate removabilityand transfer as above described is shown in FIGURES 10-14. Each body Bis equipped with front and rear transverse beams which rest'on suitablesupports 21 on the chassis. When a truck body is lowered onto thechassis, the beams 20 are guided into place in a fore and aft directionby sloping ramp surfaces 22 on the chassis. Similarly, the body isguided into proper position in a transverse direction by inclinedsurfaces 23 on the body beams 20 which project down between twolongitudinal chassis frame members 24. The body is latched to thechassis by four pivotal latch members 25 actuated by suitable means suchas hydraulic cylinder and piston units 26. Latch members 25 engagerecesses 27 in the body beams 20.

When all four latches are withdrawn from recesses 27, the body isremovable from the chassis either by lifting it vertically off thechassis or by supporting the body in a grapple and lowering the truckaway from the body. The upper edges of the sides of the truck body areoutwardly flanged and channeled as shown at 28 in FIGURE 14 forengagement by the lower hooked ends of grapple arms 30-. The truckbodies are otherwise conventional dump bodies except that the usualdumping mechanism is not used. In the present system the bodies are notrequired to dump while they are on the trucks.

At each loading station L and L the loaded truck drives on an elevatorplatform which is supported by hydraulic rams 36 so as to be level withthe entering roadway buthigher than the exit roadway. The loaded body isremoved from the truck and transferred to a carriage in a mannerpresently to be described, whereby the body is grasped and supported bygrapple arms 3% on the carriage, the latches 25 retracted, and the trucklowered on platform 35 to the level of the exit roadway. The platformrises again after the truck has left the station, and before the nexttruck arrives, whereby the rams are never required to lift a truck,either loaded or empty.

In driving onto the platform, the driver is guided by a pair oflongitudinal side rails 37 which will place the body in the properposition laterally for engagement by the grapple arms 30 and also centerthe chassis within the range of lateral movement that can be effected bythe inclined surfaces 23 in FIGURE 12 when an empty body is lowered ontothe chassis. The truck driver is assisted in spotting the truck in theproper fore and aft position by an electric eye device 38 having a pairof horizontal transverse light beams arranged in a well-known manner tooperate a signal when the truck interrupts only the first beam as shownin FIGURE 10. In this way, the truck is spotted within the range oflongitudinal adjustment which can be accomplished by ramp surfaces 22when an empty body is lowered on the chassis.

it is to be understood, of course, that the rails 37 and electric eyedevice 38 are merely representative of any suitable means for spottingeach truck in a predetermined position in the loading stations, bothlaterally and longis tudinally. The interchangeability of the bodies onall the trucks used in the present system makes it possible for a truckto relieve itself of a loaded body and then proceed back to the minewith a different empty body without waiting for the load to be dumpedand the original body to be returned.

Each loading station L and L is further equipped with a grapple unit 40and a hoist unit 41 as shown generally in FIGURES 2-4. The details ofthese units are shown in the dumping station in FIGURE 9, the unitsbeing the same in both stations. Grapple 40 comprises a rectangularframe on which the grapple arms 39 are pivotally mounted at 45 foractuation laterally by hydraulic cylinder and piston units 46. Thegrapple arms may be 'engaged or released by a hydraulic system havingsolenoid valves controlled remotely by an electrical system in awell-known manner.

Each loading and dumping station comprises a vertical framework or tower47 supporting on its top one of the hoist units 41. Each hoist unit 41is equipped with power driven cable drums 48 having cables 49 forraising and lowering the grapple 40. The grapples 40 are used in theloading stations L and L to transfer an empty truck body from one of thecarriages C or C to a truck. In the dumping stations D and D thegrapples are used for transferring empty truck bodies from the dumpingmechanisms to the carriages. Thus, the hoist units are never required tolift a loaded body.

The carriage which is identified generally as C in FIG- URE 9 has aframe 55 connected with two of the cables 13 and equipped with wheels 56running on [the t ack designated generally at T. Pivo tally mounted'at57 on the under side of frame 55 are pairs of grapple arms 30 actuatedby hydraulic units 46 as in the case of the grapple 40. The carriagegrapple arms, however, can only carry a truck body along the track T;they cannot raise or lower a truck body in a stat-ion. These grapplearms are preferably equipped with side boards 58 as shown in FIG-' URES2-5 to avoid spilling a heaped load. On the upper s1de of frame 55 is arack or holder 59 for carrying a body on top of the carriage. This rackis used for returning empty bodies down the incline While grapple arms30 under the carriage are used for carrying loaded bodies up theincline.

FIGURE 9 also shows the dumping mechanism. An elevator frame 69 may beraised and loweredon the tower frame 47 of the station by means ofhydraulic ram units 61. Pivotally mounted on the lift frame 60 is aplatform 62 which may be tilted up to near vertical position asshown inFIGURE-7 by a pair of hydraulic rams 63 to dump the load out of a body B(B in FIGURE 7) into the waiting gondola car 12. Platform 62 is equippedwith suitable retention means to secure the truck body while the load isbeing dumped. The purpose of lift rams 61 is to raise the elevator frame66 with the platform 62 up to a position to receive the truck body fromthe carriage grapple arms 39 and then to lower the tmck body to clearthe carriage so that the carriage can return to the loading station.Thus, these rams never have to lift a loaded body except for the slightvertical distance necessary to disengage the body from the carriagegrapple arms.

The grapple arms 3% in the carriages and stations may be operated by alinkage and screw mechanism instead of the hydraulic cylinder and pistonunits 46, if desired.

Operation FIGURES 2-8 show successive phases in a cycle of operation ofone of the carriages. During this cycle the other carriage is goingthrough an identical cycle in an out of phase relationship since onecarriage is always at the top of the incline when the other carriage isat the bottom. In the following description of the operation, thecarriage and stations are not identified particularly with reference toFIGURE 1 but, instead, are identified generally by using the letteredreference characters without subscripts. Numerical subscripts are usedin connection with the truck body B to designate the sequence in whichthe empty bodies are made available at the loading station, thesubscripts making it possible to follow the movements of each particularbody step by step through the cycle.

In FIGURE 2, as the truck carrying the loaded body B approaches theloading station, the carriage C has just arrived with the empty body Bon top of the carriage. As the driver proceeds to spot the truck inproper position as described in connection with FIGURE (shown in brokenlines in FIGURE 2), the grapple 4t) descends from hoist unit 41 to itsbroken line position and lifts the empty body B from the carriage. Truckplatform 35 is in raised position level with the approach roadway.

In FIGURE 3, the empty body B has been lifted clear of the carriage andthe carriage grapple arms have grasped the loaded body B on the truck.While this is taking place, the truck driver has unlatched the truckbody from the chassis. The next step is to lower truck platform 35 tothe level of the exit road-Way as shown in broken lines.

As shown in FIGURE 4, the loaded body B now proceeds up the inclineclear of the loading station and the empty body 13 is lowered onto thetruck chassis and latched thereto. Grapple 4! then releases the body andreturns to its upper broken line position and the truck driver proceedsout of the station for another load as indicated in broken lines. Asloaded body B travels up the track, spillage is prevented by side boards58 on the grapple arms. Even if some spillage does occur, it cannot fallon the track or cables by reason of the pendant position of the loadunder the carriage.

When the loaded body 3;, reaches the dumping station, there is an emptybody B waiting in the grapple 40 as shown in FIGURE 5. Lift frame 69 ismoved up to support body B on the dumping platform 62, as shown inbroken lines.

FIGURE 6 shows grapple 4i lowering empty body B on the top of thecarriage while the carriage grapple arms are releasing the loaded body Bwhich now rests on dump platform 62. As shown in broken lines, grapple40 is then raised and lift frame so lowered to clear the carriage forits return to loading station.

In FIGURE 7, body B is being dumped into the gondola car 12 by thetilting of dump platform 62 while empty body B proceeds down the inclineto the loading station.

In FIGURE 8, loaded body B has been dumped and returned to horizontalposition on platform 62. Grapple All has been lowered and is about tolift the body from the platform. The body is then liftedto the top ofthe tower as shown in broken lines, clearing the way for the return ofthe carriage with another loaded body on its next trip up the incline.These events overlap with the events taking place at the loading stationin FIGURE 2 whereby the cycle is completed.

This system is controlled by a single operator in addition to the truckdrivers. The operator stations himself between the two dumping stationsto control the dumping and transfer operations at the top of theincline. As previously explained, the events taking place at eachloading station may, if .desired, be controlled by the truck driver whois in the station at the time, or, preferably, they may be initiatedautomatically in proper sequence by the electric eye device by the mereact of spotting the truck in its proper position in the loading station.

The foregoing description of the operation deals only with the handlingof the ore from the mine. No mention is made of the waste material whichis to be discarded. For this purpose, an additional dumping station orstations may be installed at any convenient point along the incline.Such waste dumping stations ordinarily would not require the train track11. When the Waste dumping stations are not in use, the carriages willmerely pass through without interference to carry the ore up to therailroad.

In a similar manner multiple loading stations may be installed along thesame track system and the lower ends of the tracks may be extended fromtime to time to accommodate new loading stations as the mining operationor pit recedes from the lowest existing loading station. The extensionof the track and addition of new loading stations does not require theremoval of existing station towers since the loaded carriages will passfreely through any stations not in use.

When different loading or dumping stations are brought into operationcertain adjustments are made in the cable hoist system 13. The effectivelengths of the cables are lengthened or shortened as required and thecable drums for the two carriages are adjusted rotatively relative toeach other so that one carriage will be in its dumping station when theother carriage is in its loading station. In order to make suchadjustments the cable drums for the two carriages are interconnected bya clutch which permits the cables to be wound or unwound on or from onedrum at a time.

As previously mentioned, the dumping stations may be provided with anore crusher or belt conveyor to receive the ore the same as shown inFIGURE 7, in place of the gondola car 12. If it is desired to transferthe loaded body B to another truck chassis at the upper terminal stationWithout dumping, a truck elevator platform 35 as used in the loadingstation in FIGURE 2 may be substituted for the lift frame 60 and dumpplatform 62 in FIGURES 5 and 6. By such means the loaded body may beplaced on a waiting truck chassis in the same manner it was removed fromthe truck chassis Id in FIGURE 3. An empty body from the truck at theupper terminal would previously have been transferred to grapple 49 andheld in waiting the same as body B in FIGURE 5. Then, while the loadedbody is being placed on the truck chassis, the empty body (B would beplaced on top of the carriage as shown in FIGURE 6.

The invention is also applicable in an obvious manner to transportationdownhill to a railroad or other facility at a level below the source ofmaterial which is to be carried. The present system is also of advantagein transporting loads across a river, canyon or ravine where there mayor may not be a great difference in elevation between the loading anddumping stations. In such installations the track may comprise acableway with the carriage traveling on the catenary. In such cases mostof the advantages of the invention may be obtained by single tracksystem using a single carriage.

Thus the facility with which the present system may be adapted todifferent needs and conditions makes it inherently more flexible andadvantageous as well as more etlicient and economical than conventionalskip hoists for many and varied purposes.

Having now described our invention and in What manner the same may beused, what we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

l. A load handling system comprising a loading station and a dumpingstation, a carriage arranged to travel between said stations, means forcarrying a loaded truck body under said carriage, means for carrying anempty truck body'on top of said carriage, means in said loading stationfor lifting an empty body off said carriage and lowering said body .ontoa truck chassis, a dumping mechanism in said dumping station arranged toreceive a loaded body from the under side of said carriage and dump theload, and means for lifting an empty body from said dumping mechanismand lowering said body onto the top of said carriage.

2. In a load handling system, a loading station, a carriage arranged totravel into and out of said station, means on said carriage for carryingan empty truck body on top of the carriage, means on said carriage forgrasping and carrying a loaded truck body under the carriage, a truckhaving a removable dump body, a roadway for said truck beneath saidcarriage in said station, means for lowering said truck when its loadedbody has been grasped by said grasping and carrying means on saidcarriage to transfer said loaded body from said truck to said carriage,and means for lifting an empty body from the top of said carriage andlowering said body onto said truck.

3. In a load handling system, a dumping station, a carriage arranged totravel into and out of said station, means on said carriage for carryingan empty truck body on top of the carriage, means on said carriage forcarryinga loaded truck body under the carriage, a dumping mechanism insaid station, means to raise said dumping mechanism to receive a loadedbody from the under side of said carriage and then lower said body toclear the carriage, and means to lift an empty body from said dumpingmechanism and lower said body'on top of said carriage.

on said grapple arms arranged to extend upward from the sides of thetruck body to reduce spillage of a heaped load from a truck body in thegrasp of said arms.

6. In a system as defined in claim 1, an elevated track for saidcarriage interconnecting said stations, said hfing means in bothstations comprising a cable hoist having a grapple mechanism arrangedfor lifting engagement with the truck body.

7. In a system as defined in claim 2, an elevated track for saidcarriage in said station, said grasping and carrying means on saidcarriage comprising a grapple mechanism on the under side of saidcarriage.

8. In a system as defined in claim 3, an elevated track for saidcarriage in said station, said dumping mechanism comprising an elevator,a truck body platform pivotally mounted at one end on said elevator, andmeans for tilting said platform.

' References Qited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

1. A LOAD HANDLING SYSTEM COMPRISING A LOADING STATION AND A DUMPINGSTATION, A CARRIAGE ARRANGED TO TRAVEL BETWEEN SAID STATIONS, MEANS FORCARRYING A LOADED TRUCK BODY UNDER SAID CARRIAGE, MEANS FOR CARRYING ANEMPTY TRUCK BODY ON TOP OF SAID CARRIAGE MEANS IN SAID LOADING STATIONFOR LIFTING AN EMPTY BODY OFF SAID CARRIAGE AND LOWERING SAID BODY ONTOA TRUCK CHASSIS, A DUMPING MECHANISM IN SAID DUMPING STATION ARRANGED TORECEIVE A LOADED BODY FROM THE UNDER SIDE OF SAID CARRIAGE AND DUMP THELOAD, AND MEANS FOR LIFTING AN EMPTY BODY FROM SAID DUMPING MECHANISMAND LOWERING SAID BODY ONTO THE TOP OF SAID CARRIAGE.